Network operators and service providers typically rely on various network virtualization technologies to manage complex, large-scale computing environments, such as high-performance computing (HPC) and cloud computing environments. For example, network operators and service provider networks may rely on network function virtualization (NFV) deployments to deploy network services (e.g., firewall services, network address translation (NAT) services, load-balancing services, deep packet inspection (DPI) services, transmission control protocol (TCP) optimization services, etc.). Such NFV deployments typically use an NFV infrastructure to orchestrate various virtual machines (VMs) to perform virtualized network services, commonly referred to as virtualized network functions (VNFs), on network traffic and to manage the network traffic across the various VMs.
Unlike traditional, non-virtualized deployments, virtualized deployments decouple network functions from underlying hardware, which results in network functions and services that are highly dynamic and generally capable of being executed on off-the-shelf servers with general purpose processors. As such, the VNFs can be scaled-in/out as necessary based on particular functions or network services to be performed on the network traffic. However, traditional means of accessing exposed interfaces (e.g., access interfaces via probes) for monitoring the processing of the network traffic between the functional components of the traditional, non-virtualized deployments are not as distinct for access in VNF deployments. For example, the Industry Specification Group for NFV of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has published a number of virtualized models wherein such access/monitoring interfaces may be obscured. Further, the number of different access interfaces available in the various deployments (e.g., within a VNF, between VNFs, etc.) may make it difficult to probe for desired information about the VNFs. For example, some deployments may implement vendor-proprietary, non-standardized interfaces in order to optimize processing power and reduce latency attributable to signaling, which may limit access availability.